


Mistaken Identity

by EmeraldHeiress



Series: How Dangerous (A Mask Can Be) [15]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Humor, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:47:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress
Summary: Duke wished he had picked a different Halloween costume.
Relationships: Duke Thomas & Jason Todd
Series: How Dangerous (A Mask Can Be) [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932781
Comments: 18
Kudos: 201





	Mistaken Identity

He had no idea how he got to this point. Absolutely none. All he’d wanted was some candy. A little light in the dark. (Yes, he meant that pun, damn it. He could do wordplay!) A last time trick or treating before he got too old. He wanted it to be memorable so he’d spent a lot of time on his costume. Really wanted to make it stick out. Make it look _real_. 

The next thing he knew, he was getting his ass kicked by the Red Hood. 

Like…

He hadn’t even done anything?! The guy just came out of nowhere and wiped the floor with him.

But, despite being perfectly capable of it, didn’t put him in the hospital. He seemed like he pulling his punches. Like he was worried about hurting him. Duke was so confused. 

Wasn’t Hood supposed to be like… protecting guys like him? Kids?

When he was down, spitting blood (was that a tooth?) on the blacktop, a gloved hand dragged up him by his collar. 

“Man, B’s standards are really dropping. You can barely throw punch, kid. What did you do, steal the cape before your training was complete? Or is the old man really letting you out of the Cave when you’re this incompetent?”

“What?!” Duke rasped, staring blearily at a red helmet through a swelling eye.

“Wow, you need some serious work. Well, I’m not letting B have all the fun. Or to ruin you like he did the rest of us. I expect you to meet me for training, too, kid. I’m not gonna let you die, too.”

“What?” Somehow he got the impression the man was rolling his eyes but obviously he couldn’t read anything from a helmet.

“Just meet me, for fuck’s sake. If you don’t, I’ll find you.”

With that, he was gone, and Duke was left with a missing tooth and a ripped costume.

What?

Of course, he went. He didn’t want the Hood hunting him down. He was more than a little surprised when the man carefully, patiently, showed him how to fight. It took him an embarrassing amount of time to realize that Red Hood actually thought he was a new Robin. 

By then, he was in too deep. He didn’t know how to tell the man that he was just a kid. That he didn’t know who B was… aside from Batman, of course.

And now…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!”

Duke was perched on the front of Red’s bike as they were chasing down a fleeing drug dealer. 

“You got ‘em, kid!” Red shouted over the road of the engine. “Just like B taught you!”

This was going to be a disaster.


End file.
